"Guilty pleasures" is not a phrase I am totally okay with. Guilt can imply shame, and thus imply that we should be ashamed of the things we take pleasure in. And can make us feel as though we are maneuvered into a position in which we project to the world that really, most of the time we are reading Infinite Jest and watching The Criterion Collection and consume only the best and most refined of everything. No, I do not read David Foster Wallace and watch documentaries and eat tofu sauteed in oatmilk and kale for a snack. I do not eat dairy-free ice-cream and call it an indulgence. I snarf down cheetoes and re-read historical fiction by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles; I watch costume dramas and superhero movies. And I'm not ashamed of it. Maybe that makes me boring or basic or boujie, or whatever word we want to use to cleverly dismiss the pleasures and interests of women, but I don't feel guilt or shame. They aren't guilty pleasures. They are things I enjoy. My vocabulary might be a bit more varied than the average bear, but I don't pretend to have elite, high-falutin tastes and interests. I like what I like.
Where am I going with this? Bear with me.
One of the things I like are YouTube Influencers and their vlogs. It's a little amusing, really--it's a bunch of bright young things, blondes and vegan yogis and lovely ladies with hair extensions who do hauls and and posh apartment tours and have podcasts and live in L.A. The opposite of me in every way. But nonetheless, I've been devouring these videos for years now, but especially right now during quarantine. They are usually light--although often these women do strive to show their authentic, vulnerable selves--and frothy, and dammit, they help me feel less alone right now.
And what's also funny--these ladies also help me feel more connected. A lot of times, the trends I learn about, the latest slang and phrases, I hear from them. So, they are who have helped keep me in the loop about the various microtrends of quarantine. Here are the seven which have caught my attention--only one of which I am actually partaking in.
1. Tie-dying sweats and other clothing articles
Holy hell, what is it with all the DIY tie-dye going on? And will people actually wear these when our pasty-faced selves emerge from our homes? I already resemble a colorful marshmallow already; I'll happily sit this one out.
2. Dalgona Coffee
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| Tik Tok did not make me do it. |
3. Tik Tok
Admittedly, Tik Tok was already a thing before the world started ending. And apparently, it's been a thing for a while! I hadn't heard of it before the last four months or so, though. And just like I don't care for short stories, I don't care for really short videos. YouTube is fine for me, thank you very much. But I am sure that Tik Tok has helped popularize the aforementioned trends of Dalgona Coffee and tie-dye.
4. Animal Crossing
It's a Switch game, released right around the time that the world started ending. Perfect timing for people shut indoors. I'm not a gamer, so this is not how I have whiled away my time. But when social and pop cultural historians look back on this time, they will know it has been a defining bit of entertainment for perhaps millions.
5. Ozark
Again, this was around prior to quarantine, but it seems like everyone is binge-watching it now. I like escapist television as much as the next person, but this just seems a bit...grim...for me.
6. Banana Bread
WHY IS EVERYONE MAKING BANANA BREAD? That shit is gross.
5. Tiger King
Ah, here we are. The one quarantine trend I am guilty of succumbing to. This trainwreck show about trainwreck people is great about making me feel so much better about my own life choices. But there's something that I have to say, something that has been bothering me: I think there is a lot of pretty obvious misogyny in this show. Not in the production itself, but certainly in the (mainly male) people who populate this series. It seems so many of the men despise That Bitch, Carole Baskin, and readily cast her into the role of antagonist because...why? She has the gall to go against them? Because she is her own person, and old enough not to be part of the harem? Because she is financially autonomous? Had she been male, would so much spite be directed at her? (I mean, these are rhetorical questions; we all know what I think, and there are people much smarter than I who can probably articulate this all so much better.) And if she did murder her douchey ex-husband and take his money (which I don't believe for a moment), so what? As my Eldest Sister laconically observed last week, "#lifegoals."
I'm not saying that these things are a result of quarantine, and the global pandemic. Probably, in all cases, it was a matter of timing. But it's quite interesting to see what's keeping First World folks (or a certain age, at least) occupied during these times.
Daily Indiana COVID-19 Counts:
Total Number of Cases: 17,182 (up from yesterday's 16,588)
964 people have died.
Daily Gratitude:
Looks like The Prof is feeling better, and whatever illness she had been struggling with has passed! I may be able to go to a grocery store or something--or walk outside and not feel guilty!
Daily Funnies:
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